How Does Your Story Benefit Me?
How does your story benefit me? That’s always an important question. It’s especially important if you’re trying to do something controversial. A lot of things are controversial.
Colorado’s casinos are asking voters to let them raise their stakes to $100 a bet – a big jump from the current maximum of $5.
Colorado agreed nearly 20 years ago to let three old mining towns – Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek – open small-stakes casinos. Since then, a number of towns have tried to win approval for similar proposals. They’ve all lost.
So, the casino owners knew they had a losing hand without a good reason for voters to let them raise their stakes.
Their answer? A ballot proposal, known as Amendment 50, directing that a major portion of the additional taxes they’ll pay on their increased revenue go to the state’s community colleges. In fact, the campaign for the proposal calls itself Coloradans for Community Colleges.
How effective is their tactic? We’ll know for sure on November 4. But I’ve already had two friends who don’t give a rip about gambling urge me to vote for the ballot proposal because it’ll help community colleges – something both of them care a lot about.
Any PR professional worth his or her salt knows about using third-party advocates to help tell your story. But the backers of Amendment 50 have taken it a step further. They’ve given people who would otherwise vote against their proposal a reason to vote for it.
The strategy’s a good one. And one that doesn’t get used often enough. Do you have a controversial idea you want to sell? Figure out everyone who can impact the outcome. Then give as many of them as possible a reason to support you by giving them a stake in you winning approval for your proposal.
That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours?
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Tags: Amendment 50, casinos, gambling, media messaging, media minute, media relations, monday morning media minute, public relations